Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Debunks Long-Standing Fan Theory

CD Projekt Red creative director Igor Sarzyński has just debunked one of the oldest fan theories in Cyberpunk 2077 history. Unlike many of the fan theories surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, this one has nothing to do with the game’s narrative or its characters, but instead revolves around something as simple as Cyberpunk 2077‘s elevators.

According to his LinkedIn page, Igor Sarzyński began working at CD Projekt Red in September 2011 as a QA tester. Sarzyński gradually worked his way up the ranks at CD Projekt, becoming a cinematic designer in 2012, a senior cinematic designer in 2015, a cinematic lead in 2017, and then finally a cinematic director in 2020. In January 2024, Igor Sarzyński officially became one of CD Projekt Red’s creative directors, having directed the narrative of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. As a creative director, Sarzyński is set to be a leading voice behind the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Creative Director Debunks Elevator Loading Screen Theory

On December 22, Igor Sarzyński posted what he referred to as a “mini rant” on the social media platform Bluesky. Over the course of two brief posts, Sarzyński put the final nail in the coffin of one long-standing Cyberpunk 2077 fan theory, confirming once and for all that the elevators in the acclaimed RPG are not “cleverly concealed loading screens.” This fan theory can trace its roots back to before Cyberpunk 2077 even came out, with one Reddit post from September 2020 claiming that the game’s elevator sequences would take longer on HDD than SSD due to them possibly being hidden loading screens.

Though various CD Projekt Red developers have attempted to debunk this theory over the last five years, it’s always ended up reemerging online a few months later. As to why Cyberpunk 2077 has so many elevator sequences, Sarzyński states in his Bluesky post that elevators appear in Night City simply because “it makes sense.” Sarzyński finishes his post with the line “we could make it transparent if we wanted. this engine is a miracle. i will not accept slander.”

This last statement prompted one Bluesky user to fire back, “Why’d you dump it for Unreal 5 then?” referring to CD Projekt Red’s decision to switch from its own in-house REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 for future projects like The Witcher 4 and the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. Sarzyński replied to the Bluesky user with “we wanna make games, not engines,” which echoes the studio’s previous comments on why it switched to UE5, with CDPR’s vice president of technology Charles Tremblay stating in November 2024 that the shift was to help multi-project processes.

Every CD Projekt Red Game Currently In Development

• The Witcher 4
• The Witcher 5
• The Witcher 6
• The Witcher Remake
• Project Sirius (The Witcher spinoff)
• Project Orion (Cyberpunk 2077 sequel)
• Project Hadar (New IP)

CD Projekt Red technically has a total of seven games in development right now, with five of those being based on The Witcher IP. The Witcher 4 – officially unveiled at The Game Awards 2024 – will likely be the studio’s next project out the door, which CDPR has stated will be followed by two subsequent games. In a November 2025 earnings call, CD Projekt Red doubled down on its plan to deliver this new Witcher trilogy within a six-year period.

The remaining two Witcher games currently in development at CD Projekt Red are The Witcher Remake and a Witcher spinoff known only as Project Sirius. While the Fool’s Theory-developed Witcher Remake has gone radio silent in recent years, Project Sirius has had a much more public development cycle, with the project having to be restarted in 2023 and developer The Molasses Flood being absorbed by CDPR earlier this year. CD Projekt Red hasn’t officially confirmed release dates for any of its in-development games, including the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel and its game based on an original IP.

Released

December 10, 2020

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol